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This flour tortilla recipe is made from 5 Ingredients. The tortillas are soft, easy, and can be used for burritos, tacos, and more!!
Whether you’ve got Tacos or Burritos on the menu, or you simply plan to slather your tortillas in Queso and Salsa, you can’t go wrong with these homemade flour tortillas!
Our Best-Loved Flour Tortillas!
Our family eats Mexican cuisine quite regularly. We love to use this flour tortilla recipe to make Enchiladas, Burritos, Tacos, and even Taquitos!
Being Hispanic, we’ve enjoyed homemade tortillas my whole life. In fact, my great-grandma Bean Burro was famous for her gigantic delicious tortillas and sold a dozen for $2!!)
With this simple recipe, we now make them all the time, and we all agree that Mexican dinners and sides always taste so much better and more authentic when they’re made with fresh tortillas!
Why we love fresh tortillas:
- 5 basic ingredients. Flour tortillas are surprisingly simple to make and require just a handful of basic pantry staple ingredients.
- Cost-effective. Making tortillas can be more cost-effective than purchasing pre-made ones, and you ensure clean and healthy ingredients!
- More flavorful. This homemade recipe is a fresher and tastier option compared to store-bought tortillas.
Ingredients
- all-purpose flour
- baking powder
- salt
- water
- unsalted butter – I like the resulting flavor using butter, but you can also use vegetable shortening or lard interchangeably.
How to Make Tortillas
- DOUGH. In a medium bowl, mix 2 cups of flour, baking powder, and salt with a whisk or wooden spoon. Add melted butter and warm water and mix with your hands until combined.
- Add more flour if needed 1 tablespoon at a time, but the dough should be a little sticky. Let dough rest for 10 minutes.
- HEAT. Heat a large skillet over medium heat.
- ROLL. While the skillet is heating up, portion the dough into 12 dough balls of equal portions. On a lightly floured surface, use a pastry roller (or rolling pin) to roll each ball out into a circle about 8 inches wide.
- COOK. Add one tortilla at a time to a skillet on medium-high heat and cook for about 1 minute on each side (or until bubbles form and it’s slightly browned on both sides.)
Pro Tip
To keep tortillas warm while serving, the easiest way is to use a tortilla warmer. If you do not have one, use a pot and lid that is slightly bigger than the tortillas.
Make Tortilla Chips
- FRY. Fill a large frying pan with about 2 inches of vegetable or peanut oil. Heat to 350°F. Cut tortillas into strips or triangles.
- Add a few pieces to the oil and fry for about 45 seconds turning every 15 seconds. Use a spider skimmer to remove chips and place them on a paper towel or wire rack. Season with salt and other favorite seasonings.
- BAKE. Preheat oven to 350°F. Brush the flour tortilla with olive oil, and sprinkle with salt or other seasonings. Cut into triangles. Place a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake for about 4-5 minutes, use tongs to flip halfway, and bake for another 3-4 minutes.
- Check out our Homemade Tortilla Chips Recipe.
Recipe Tips
- Dough. Keep the dough from drying out by draping a damp clean kitchen towel over the top.
- Thickness. For thinner tortillas, divide the dough into 14 balls. For thicker tortillas, divide them into 10 balls.
- Rolling. Roll a flattened ball of dough in one direction from the center to the top edge on a floured work surface. Turn the dough a quarter turn and roll again from the center to the top. Repeat rolling and turning until the tortilla is to the desired size and shape. A pastry roller helps with this.
- No stacking! Do not stack rolled tortilla dough while waiting to cook them or they may become soggy.
- Shake the excess flour. Before cooking a rolled-out tortilla, toss it back and forth a bit between your hands to knock off any excess flour.
- Wipe the pan. Carefully wipe any flour out of the pan between cooking each tortilla, otherwise, it will accumulate in the pan and start to burn.
- Heat. If the tortilla doesn’t have golden spots after 1 minute, slightly increase the heat. If the spots are dark brown or black, decrease the heat.
- Stiff tortillas. If your tortillas feel stiff, you have either cooked them too long or used too high of heat.
Storing Info
- Make them ahead of time. Keep the dough in the fridge or the freezer until you are ready to cook. Store the dough in balls or pre-roll them.
- Divide the pre-rolled tortillas with pieces of parchment paper or wax paper. Store in the fridge for up to a week or in the freezer for up to 6 months. Thaw in the fridge before cooking.
- To cook. Place the tortillas directly into the pot as soon as they have been cooked. The steam from the tortillas will keep them warm and soft.
- STORE. Separate cooled tortillas with parchment paper or wax paper. Place them in an airtight container on the counter for 2-3 days, in the refrigerator for 6-8 weeks, or in the freezer for 6-8 months.
- To thaw, put the bag of tortillas in the fridge for 24-48 hours, or defrost in the microwave.
- To reheat. Stack on a plate and cover with a damp paper towel. Microwave for 15 to 30 seconds or until warm.
Use Flour Tortillas In:
Flour Tortilla Recipe
This flour tortilla recipe is made from 5 Ingredients. The tortillas are soft, easy, and can be used for burritos, tacos, and more!!
Ingredients
- 2 cups + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, plus more as needed
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ cup unsalted butter, melted
- ¾ cup lukewarm water
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, mix 2 cups of flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, and 1 teaspoon salt with a whisk or wooden spoon. Add ½ cup melted butter and ¾ cup warm water and mix with your hands until combined.
- Add more flour if needed 1 tablespoon at a time, but the dough texture should be a little sticky. Let dough rest for 10 minutes.
- Heat a large skillet over medium heat.
- While the skillet is heating up, portion the dough into 12 dough balls of equal portions. On a lightly floured work surface, use a pastry roller (or rolling pin) to roll each ball out into a circle about 8 inches wide.
- Add one tortilla at a time to a skillet on medium-high heat and cook for about 1 minute on each side (or until bubbles form and golden brown spots form on both sides).
Video
Notes
Make ahead of time. Store cooked tortillas in a large resealable plastic bag on the counter for 2–3 days, or in the refrigerator for 1 week. These can also be frozen in a resealable plastic freezer bag for 4–5 months.
Serving tip. The easiest way to keep tortillas warm for serving is to use a tortilla warmer. If you do not have one, you can use a pot with a lid that is slightly bigger than the tortillas.
Use it up. Tortillas can be used to make Enchiladas, Chicken Tacos, Flautas, and Chimichangas.
Nutrition
Serving: 1tortilla, Calories: 221kcal, Carbohydrates: 32g, Protein: 4g, Fat: 8g, Saturated Fat: 5g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.5g, Monounsaturated Fat: 2g, Trans Fat: 0.3g, Cholesterol: 20mg, Sodium: 197mg, Potassium: 81mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 0.1g, Vitamin A: 236IU, Calcium: 24mg, Iron: 2mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
**This recipe was updated on 3/28/22 – made it even easier and yummier!
There is not much better than warm, chewy flour tortillas!
Once you make your own tortillas store bought will never taste as good.
Will never go back to store bought tortillas again…husband approved! Loved them!
Can i leave out the baking Powder? I prefer a thinner tortilla.
I haven’t personally tried. I know baking powder helps recipes become light & helps them rise. These don’t have to rise, just set. Not sure how the outcome will be without it.
I’ve tried a few tortilla recipes and this one has been the best, I think its because you use butter (versus some that use oil). Thanks for the great recipies!
You are so welcome! Happy you tried them! Thank you!
Amazing! This is the first time I’ve tried making tortillas and it was incredibly easy to make and very tasty! Thanks for sharing the recipe 🙂
You are so welcome! I am glad you tried them! Thank you for letting me know!
Super easy to make and they taste deLiCious! my kids loved them!
Thanks Brittany!! My kids could eat them all day long!
Not bad!! Lacks a bit in flavor because I didn’t use LARD like they do traditionally, but was great. I think next time, I’m going to try adding a teeny tiny bit more salt. I did fry a couple in a Texas garlic olive oil because why not 😉 So yummy and a fantastic base recipe. They came out fluffy and easy enough for my 7 yr old to help. I used my food processor with the dough hook ATTACHMENT and COULDN’T have been any easier! LOVE it! So yummy!
Yay!! I am so glad you tried it & thanks for sharing about using the Texas garlic olive oil. I will have to try!
First time making and Delighted by how soft they turned out, and soooo easy tO make. Should have taken your advice to double the batch!! thanks for this version
LOL..yes, I need to double it every time! Glad you liked them. Thank you so much!
I have been looking for tortillas that I could make and make them into crisp burritos. Is that possible with this and if so how would I do it ?
Yes, I am sure they could. I haven’t made them crispy, but I would maybe stick them under the broiler or you could bake them, but I would need to play around with the bake time & temp.